


the way you do the things you do

by imaginingthestars



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Embarrassment, F/M, Tinder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28453851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginingthestars/pseuds/imaginingthestars
Summary: And then, as the normal 22 years old woman she is, taken by boredom, she decides to open the tinder app.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	the way you do the things you do

At this point of her life, Clarke already knows plans usually don't go as they're meant to. 

This time, her flight was supposed to be at 4am. And ok, she knows planes can delay by hours, but she was really expecting this wouldn't. She and Raven had agreed they would meet once she arrived, and Clarke was looking forward to it. The last time they met was five years ago, when the girls had graduated in High School. After that, Clarke had moved to Massachusetts to go college, and Raven had stayed at Illinois. They had kept contact, and used to facetime every now and then, but haven't actually seen each other in a long time.

Now, months after her graduation, she's going back to her hometown. 

And her flight is late. She waits for about 30 minutes before going to the information booth and asks if it was going to take too long.

"Hey," she says, as she gets closer to the counter, where the lady from the plane company smiles at her. "My flight number is 3752, from Cambridge to Chicago. Could you tell me if it's going to take too long? It was supposed to be at four am."

"Just a second," Martha, as her name tag says, replies, and types something on her computer. "I'm so sorry..." she stops, giving Clarke the cue to tell her her name.

"Clarke." 

"I am really sorry Clarke. There is a storm in Chicago now, and the fog is making it impossible for the planes to arrive there. I'd say at least two more hours of waiting, maybe even more, until we're able to let the flight leave."

That can't be true. No way. Clarke can't believe. It's 4:30am on a Thursday. Her week has been exhausting, with all the packing and moving, not counting work. All she wanted was to sit on the plane seat, put her earphones on and sleep until the landing. And now she has to wait for who knows how many hours. 

Great.

She sighs. "Thanks," she smiles at Martha, who nods back, and heads back to her seat, not too far, where her backpack is. 

Her baggage has already been checked and put into the plane, so all she has is her backpack, with her phone charger, earphones, personal hygiene products and a book.

Fucking amazing.

**Clarke:** _change of planes_

**Clarke:** _i'm delaying for at least 2 hours, probably more_

It doesn't take more than five minutes for her friend to respond.

**Rae:** _you're kidding me right?_

**Clarke:** _i wish_

**Rae:** _damn_

**Rae:** _okay, let me know when you leave? we can still catch up_

**Clarke:** _sure_

She gets her earphones and connects it to her phone, pressing play on her "legendary rock" playlist, as she likes to call. Her music taste certainly comes from her father, who used to tell her that "this bunch of pop you listen to is not music, honey. You should be listening to some old rock like me." So, yes, she has a playlist full of old rock songs she and her father used to sing all day years ago. 

Putting her phone aside, she grabs her book, because wasting all her battery isn't going to help at all. 

This is probably the third time she is reading "Pride and Prejudice" and she doesn't regret at all. The book is amazing, what can she do? And yes, she reads Jane Austen listening to rock. She reads anything listening to it. Old habits.

When she's less than 50 pages in, Clarke gives up, putting the book and the earphones back into the bag, and closing it. The chair is quite uncomfortable by now, so she gets up and walks around for a while, scratching her back and neck, always keeping a look on her things. Around 5:20am, she heads to the Starbucks that is not too far from there. 

She orders her usual pumpkin spice latte and a blueberry muffin, and when the man at the order counter smiles at her, she asks herself how is he that excited at this time of the day, and then keeps waking around as she eats.

Clarke lets herself think about home. If she can still call Chicago her home. She was born there, yes, and lived there for eighteen years of her life. Her mother still lives there, and all her friends. Raven had told her that Monty and Harper are - finally! - together, and he and Jasper are working at Murphy and Miller's bar - they have a bar now, too - creating weird drinks. And she and Murphy are working things out, after all the misunderstoods of last year. But honestly, it'd been so long she doesn't know if she can consider it anymore.

Back to her seat, her coffee still at her hand, she finally gives up and enters her social media. Of course, there's nothing new. No one is awake and tweeting in the middle of the night. She updates her Instagram and Twitter feeds a few times, as if it would appear something new. 

And then, as the normal 22 years old woman she is, taken by boredom, she decides to open the tinder app.

It's pointless, and Clarke knows it. She's leaving in a few hours and won't be able to have a date, but that's not stopping her.

The first suggestion is a girl named Amelia. She's cute, but the '18' next to her name makes Clarke swipes left.

Then there is a guy, and the shirtless picture with a douchebag face is enough for her not to even see his name. Left.

The girl with two puppies and a kid face? Left.

White man, blonde hair, blue eyes? Left. She already is one of those, and she's not looking for another.

The next one seems fake. Hot guy, slightly curvy brown hair, brown eyes. Twenty-three. The next picture he's wearing glasses. Freaking handsome. He's smiling and damnit. Less than one mile away. Definitely fake. She opens his bio anyway, and she can swear it gets faker. 

He's 5' 10", graduated from Harvard last year in ancient world history. A little bit obsessed with roman-greek mythology.

Clarke swipes left, because he's definitely fake. It's impossible for her to find someone that good that close. 

"Ouch. Could I at least know the reason?" Clarke freezes for a moment, then slowly turns her head, ready to snap at the person for peeking, when she realizes who the man is. 

The same one she just swept left. Still unable to react, she turns to her phone again, turning it off and turning back to him, who was smirking at her.

He probably realizes she isn't going to talk for a while, still too shocked, because he laughs.

And damn him and his laugh. He can be even more attractive smiling. And if she wasn't waiting to go back to Chicago and never come back she would totally go down for him.

"Relax," he says, and her cheeks get hotter. "I wasn't stalking you or anything. Just, right place, right time."

"That was not what I was thinking, but good to know." She wants to dig a hole, jump inside and stay there forever. 

Clarke has no idea what to say. What should she? He is in the same gate as her, which means he is going to the same place as her. It's not like she can ask where he is going. And she definitely doesn't want to talk about the fact that he saw her denying him on tinder.

"I'm serious, though," he brings her back from her thoughts once more. "I do want to know why."

"I would say I'm not looking for nothing in here 'cause I'm leaving and was doing it just for fun, which is actually true." She lowers her head trying to hide how ashamed she is, and looks back at him. "I uh, I thought you were fake."

"Do I seem fake to you?" Is he trying to mortify her here? Because it's totally working.

She shakes her head and he smirks.

Part of her wants to tell him to sit and talk because again, he is attractive as hell. And she can't say she wasn't kind of interested. Come on, the guy is handsome. and like, a minute ago, she was willing to swipe right. 

The other part, though, is telling her he can be a psychopath, a murderer or anything else that can hurt her. 

He is probably waiting for her to say something, considering that he is still standing there, but she can't find the words. What is she gonna say? 'I just rejected you, but do you wanna sit and chat?' it's not a good start. 

That's why when he opens his mouth again, she is relieved. "Can I?" He asks, nodding to the seat next to hers. 

"Unless you're a psychopath who's here to kidnap me and then murder me, sure, go ahead." He laughs and shakes his head, and for some reason, she actually believes he's not going to hurt her.

"Can I ask why you thought I was fake?" 

Because you're hot as fuck, she wants to answer, and what were the chances of a guy like you being this close? 

"I don't know, actually," she says instead. "You looked too good to be true. I mean, five feet ten, twenty-three, and graduated from Harvard, seriously?" He snorts and shakes his head, as in disbelief. 

"Well, I can assure you I'm pretty real," he jokes and she laughs.

"Why are you on tinder if you're not looking for anyone?" He sits, and she turns her body so she can face him. "I mean, you're going to Chicago. Why don't you just wait?"

"I'm sitting here for almost two hours now. All my options are done, and none of my friends are actually awake." 

"Fair," he nods. "So, Illinois huh? Why are you changing Cambridge for Chicago?"

"Hometown," she explains. "I came here to college, and after I graduated last semester, I just want to go back. Cambridge is great, but it's too much of a university city and I don't actually have a life here."

And it's true. Clarke knows she can't complain about the fact she was studying art history at Harvard, aka her dream course at her dream college, but by own experience, she can say it's not the best thing in the world. 

Clarke has never been a person with a lot of friends, but moving to another state and starting from zero had been totally different. She had been the only one from her group that had moved, so she was pretty much alone. 

Of course, she made some friends in Cambridge, like Josephine, Gabriel and Luna, but that's all. 

And well, Lexa. 

But of course, she's never going to admit that her break up four months ago is one of the reasons she's going back. 

"What about you?" She asks Bellamy after he nods. "Why are you going?"

"My sister starts at Northwestern in a few days. She moved last month but i couldn't go with her 'cause i needed to finish the school year, and she had to be at the dorms before the week I could." And although Clarke is interested, she may be a little lost in his face. Don't blame her.

Clarke smiles and they keep talking for thirty more minutes, when the voice on the speakers announces that the passengers can board, and the flight is leaving in twenty minutes.

Unfortunately for Clarke, Bellamy's seat is on the back of the plane, and hers is on the front. 

She sits and puts her earphones back on. It's only when she gets her phone to text Raven that she remembers she and Bellamy haven't exchanged their numbers. Not her name, if it matters. 

**Clarke:** _leaving now_

**Rae:** _so, uh_

**Rae:** _please don't kill me_

**Rae:** _murphy is coming_

**Rae:** _could we meet tomorrow instead?_

**Clarke:** _oh god you and murphy_

**Clarke:** _don't worry, we'll catch up_

**Rae:** _thanks babe_

Clarke sleeps the entire flight, and only wakes up when the woman sitting next to her shakes her body saying they're about to land.

After the landing, when she is in the baggage carousel, she sees Bellamy again.

"So," she approaches him, "is your sister waiting for you?" 

"Nah. In her words, she and her roommate are doing a girls night to get to know each other. Why?"

"I could show you the city," Clarke says. "I mean, if you'd like to."

"Sure. Could i leave my things at my place first?"

"Yes, of course. I need it too." They walk out of the airport and Clarke calls for a cab. "Where is your place?"

"One block after the Palmer Square Park, at the North Albany Ave?"

"Oh, yes," she nods. "There is a bar, not far from there. We could meet there?"

"Sure." He smiles.

"Can I get your number? I'll let you know when I get there." He nods and she gets her phone, unblocking and handing to him. 

Bellamy saves his number and gives it back to her.

"I'll meet you there," he stops, probably realising he doesn't know her name.

"Clarke," she says. "I'm Clarke."

"Right," he nods. "I'm Bellamy."

She smiles at him, "I know."

**Author's Note:**

> I've never wrote anything before so please let me know what y'all think! 
> 
> Thanks for getting here,  
> vic


End file.
